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The Astronomer doesn’t care too much for receiving “stuff” on his birthdays, so I gifted him homemade thịt nướng with all the fixings in celebration of his 27th last weekend. Vietnamese grilled pork has been on my lengthy list of things to master for quite some time, so this was the perfect occasion to finally learn how to prepare one of our all-time favorite dishes from scratch.

I employed my aunt Phuong’s recipe for the all-important marinade. Made from an aromatic mix of shallots, garlic, lemongrass, honey, fish sauce, and sesame oil, the marinade mingled with the meat overnight to ensure that every bit of pork was permeated. To pair with the protein, I prepped some scallion oil, pickled carrots and daikon, toasted crushed peanuts, and a jar-full of nước chấm (Vietnamese dipping sauce). Crispy fried shallots were purchased at the local Asian grocery store.

After allowing the meat to marry with the marinade, I fired up the grill, loaded up the “meat cage,” and cooked everything up in several batches. With four pounds of pork to plow through, The Astronomer and I were each treated to half a dozen bowls of bún (vermicelli rice noodles), as well as several loaves of bánh mì for the better part of a week. Thịt nướng is truly the gift that keeps on giving.

Combine all ingredients from shallots through vegetable oil in a large bowl. Add the sliced pork to the bowl. Using your hands, massage the meat and marinade to make sure that the marinade is evenly distributed and coats every slice of meat. Allow the meat to soak in the marinade overnight or for up to 24 hours.

Traditionally, thịt nướng is cooked on a grill employing a “meat cage.” These devices can be purchased in the housewares section of any well-stocked Chinese or Vietnamese supermarket. If one cannot be located, the pork can be skewered onto bamboo sticks that have been soaked in water for 20 minutes.

If using a meat cage, coat evenly with non-stick spray and layer the pork only one slice deep to ensure even cooking.

Grill the meat on low to medium heat with the lid closed for most of the time in order to keep the meat moist. Flip the meat cage once the pork has developed a sear and is evenly caramelized on one side.

Once the pork is cooked through, transfer the meat onto a serving platter.

I just did this recipe today. I looked all over for a decent meat cage though and couldn’t find one. Most of the ones I found were too wide, and none of the asian markets around here had one. if anyone has a good online lead, I’d love to know.

Ralph – Yes, that’s correct. We love lemongrass in my family. Plus, with four pounds of meat it takes a good amount of lemongrass to flavor it all. I’m sorry to hear that the marinade wasn’t to your liking. Next time, adjust the seasonings to fit your palate.

Thanks so much for sharing this! I made it last night and it was just lovely. I did have to sub ginger for lemongrass because I realized too late that I was out of lemongrass, but it was still excellent.

Oh! I should have added – for those who don’t have a grill or meat cage – that I cooked the pork on a griddle (a large frying pan would have done well, too) and the only thing missing was the smoky/woodsy taste that you can get with meat that has been cooked using a grill. The flavor was bold enough without that undertone. So to any readers who are curious but don’t have access to an outdoor grill, try the recipe anyway!

Thank you for a great recipe! It’s simple yet the taste is beautiful. I cooked a BBQ for approx. 30 people today and all of them said that it was the best BBQ ever. Thank you again for sharing such a great recipe 🙂

It look Nice and also good Flavors but i also require BBQ ON charcoal with High Heat to keep more Moisture on the food .the Flavour will be better and Please get Pork Neck to make that dishes because Pork neck is nice part with a little Bit fat on and quite soft and Tender .So when we do BBQ .it will be great

Thank you very much for sharing your delicious recipe! We had some sliced pork neck in the fridge (coincidentally, as I just saw Master Chef Tan’s comment now), and the results with your marinade were wonderful, even without the scallion oil and nuoc mam, and with only an hour’s marination. My mother wants me to marinate make 8 pounds of pork and keep some of the marinated pork in the freezer so she can have some at short notice. Do you think it would be better to freeze the pork raw or after grilling? This is clearly going to be a family favorite!

Which is better to use? Pork butt or the top sirloin? I don’t really know the difference haha. And which is the least expensive? I’d love to give this a shot! If I don’t have a meat cage, would using a toaster oven work? Thanks for the recipe!

I am thinking of trying this recipe for dinner. My family and I are huge lamb fanatics! Being from New Zealand, we always seem to have an extra large supply on hand. Would this recipe do well with lamb as the meat instead of pork butt? Looks amazing.

I’m super glad I finally found a recipe for this. Me and my boyfriend are obsessed with this food and we can’t wait to try this out. Just a quick aside, I’m not sure if you have a recipe for this but I figured there’s no harm in asking. What kind of pork would you use to put in spring rolls??

Simply awesome. I loved the way the honey and curry powder created a slightly sweet, slightly spicy blend. Tossed everything in a bag the morning and the were perfectly seasoned in time for dinner tonight. Done on my George Foreman, they were ready in 4 minutes. I used a mix of red and white onions as I wanted to use some leftovers up. Thanks!

I have made this a few times now. I have also done the nuoc cham sauce to go with spring rolls that had the pork in them. I am going to try grating the shallots next time, so hopefully less will fall off while it is cooking.
My family and our guests loved all of it. Thank you so much for sharing the love!

i made this recipe over the weekend for my in-laws. My favorite Vietnamese restaurant makes this pork over a bed of rice sticks– and this recipe tasted was exactly like the dish I always order. Everyone loved it!

Thank you for an excellent and well-written recipe! My wife is Vietnamese and we have always enjoyed cooking a wide variety of cuisine(s). In our town there are a couple of sad excuses for Viet restaurants, but this recipe (and my awesome cooking) beat them by a long shot. I just crawled away from a table full of this recipe, the whole deal. We do have cookbooks, but now I just come here. What a lovely, wonderful, amazing woman you are to have created this excellent blog. Thank you!